


who do you think you are, the fire lord?

by and_hera



Series: fire lord zuko is doing his best, guys [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, POV Outsider, Post-Canon, Secret Identity, Unreliable Narrator, i think the blue spirit has a lot of comedic potential
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25453816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_hera/pseuds/and_hera
Summary: “Excuse me?” he says, tentative but a bit worried for Zuko’s health. “I- Fire Lord Zuko? Why are you climbing out of a window?”Zuko pulls himself back in, his hair a mess around his head, and his eyes are wide like he's been caught. He’s not wearing his royal clothes either- is that a blue mask attached to his belt? “Uh… I can explain?”or, three strangers are introduced to Fire Lord Zuko who is... doing his best.
Series: fire lord zuko is doing his best, guys [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846534
Comments: 36
Kudos: 1281





	who do you think you are, the fire lord?

**Author's Note:**

> i finished atla like a few hours ago and i just. sat down and wrote this? i had a great time too! hi atla nation! i just think that the blue spirit has a LOT of comedic potential, especially post canon and now that zuko is the fire lord. anyway i love this disaster of a guy So Much  
> this fic goes out to ju who watched atla with me and thinks i'm funny. read her fics [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jublis/pseuds/jublis) she's incredible  
> i hope you enjoy! leave comments and kudos they fuel me! come talk to me on twitter @lcvelaces!

The new Fire Lord is, well, surprisingly alright.

Lee has worked at the palace since he was fifteen, starting as an assistant chef’s assistant and now a head chef himself, and due to his inability to stand up for himself and sheer luck, he hasn’t been fired yet, despite the fact he’s now pushing forty. It’s good, though, because the pay is decent, and his wife and newborn daughter need all the money they can get.

The last year has been… trying, but he luckily wasn’t one of Princess Azula’s servants, and he steered clear of the Dai Li, so he wasn’t banished during her one day of power. And now Fire Lord Zuko is in charge, and things are more or less the same than they were with Ozai. Lee did get a raise though, so he’s inclined to like Zuko more than his father.

Zuko is barely older than Lee was when he started working at the palace, and Lee has no idea how this boy is running a nation. He’s lanky and awkward, but he doesn’t carry his scar like a weight like he used to, and Lee almost feels proud of the kid. He’s young and learning but he’s proud, and again, he gave Lee a raise.

Lee is walking through the palace with fruit from the gardens when he sees the Fire Lord. Well, not exactly- Lee is walking through the palace with fruit from the gardens when he sees the Fire Lord’s lower half. Sticking out of a window. To be honest, Lee didn’t know that the stained glass wall length windows opened in any way besides being shattered, but somehow, Fire Lord Zuko managed it.

“Excuse me?” he says, tentative but a bit worried for Zuko’s health. “I- Fire Lord Zuko? Why are you climbing out of a window?”

Zuko pulls himself back in, his hair is a mess around his head, and his eyes are wide like he's been caught. He’s not wearing his royal clothes either- is that a blue mask attached to his belt? “Uh… I can explain?”

Lee looks at the leader of his nation, a sixteen year old with a serious lack of social skills, and feels something like a protective instinct to help this kid. “You don’t technically have to explain anything to me, Fire Lord,” he says, and Zuko winces. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Zuko doesn’t move, but his eyes scan the empty hallway he’s in. “It’s just… there’s this meeting in a few… yeah, okay, if anyone asks, you didn’t see me here.” Zuko meets his eyes. “You’re Lee from the kitchens, right?”

Lee blinks. “Yes?”

“You made the best dinners when I was younger. Thanks.” Lee opens his mouth, but Zuko keeps speaking: “Remember. You never saw me.” 

And then, Fire Lord Zuko somehow squeezes through the tiny opening in the stained glass window and sprints through the gardens, pulling that blue mask over his face as he goes. Lee… well, what is Lee _supposed_ to do in this situation? 

He closes the window.

And almost on cue, in comes the war general and several other high ranking Fire Nation officers who, if Lee were a younger man, Lee would be absolutely terrified of. However, at this point of his life, Lee is more scared of his wife when she hasn’t gotten enough sleep than Princess Azula herself, so he doesn’t even flinch.

“Have you seen the Fire Lord?” the war general asks. “We have a meeting to discuss Ba Sing Se right now, and he hasn’t arrived yet.”

Lee meets their eyes. “No,” he says. “I haven’t seen him yet today. I’m just on my way to make his dinner, though, so if you want any fresh strawberries…?”

The war general sighs. “I’m not sure what we thought would happen with a sixteen year old on the throne,” he says. “Thanks anyway, chef.”

Lee bows his head before walking away. He thinks he might have a little more respect for the new Fire Lord than he previously did.

Anya has lived in Ba Sing Se for her whole life, which admittedly, hasn’t been very long. But she loves her city, and she loves her people. She knows that a lot of people like her don’t like the many and varied immigrants who make their way into the city, but she disagrees- when they come, they just add to the culture of Ba Sing Se, and they make it more beautiful.

(Unsurprisingly, Anya is a liberal art student.)

She’s getting tea at the Jasmine Dragon when she sees him.

Now, the Jasmine Dragon has a checkered past. It’s owned by Mr. Iroh (as he insists the customers and city call him), and Mr. Iroh _technically_ was the crown prince of the Fire Nation during the war, and _technically_ tried to invade the city for a long time, and _technically_ was a war criminal and horrible person. However, he makes damn good tea, and most of Ba Sing Se can’t be bothered to care about a war that they generally weren’t aware happened, so the Jasmine Dragon carries on.

Anya goes just about every other day, since it’s on her way to classes. She always gets the same thing, green tea with three sugar cubes and a dash of whipped cream, and Mr. Iroh always greets her with a smile when she gets to the front of the line (which is always fairly long, but props to Mr. Iroh, it’s quite fast). She’s sitting at her favorite table, the one closest to the door and therefore right by the big open window, and people watching everyone in the main square outside the shop when the man in the mask walks in.

It’s a stone blue mask in the shape of a dragon, and Anya feels like she should recognize it? Maybe from something one of her friends mentioned? Eh, whatever, doesn’t matter. She’s more confused as to why a dude in a mask would walk into a tea shop. How is he supposed to drink the tea?

God, she’s being misogynistic. For all she knows, it could be a girl behind the mask! 

The person in the blue mask stands in line for a solid ten minutes, and Anya watches hi- _them_ with fascination. They walk like they feel like they shouldn’t be here, or like they’re ready to bolt at any moment. They’re fairly tall, too, and they’re in an all black getup sans the mask. Anya isn’t sure if she’s a terrible person for thinking they have a nice ass, but it’s not like she can help it, right? She sips her tea.

When the masked person makes it to the front of the line, Anya is ready to see Mr. Iroh give them a strange look, or make a kind joke about how they’re supposed to drink the tea with a mask on. Instead, Mr. Iroh bellows out a laugh and pulls them in for a hug- _huh_?

“Oh, Zuko,” Mr. Iroh says loudly (much to the chagrin of the masked person who shrinks back at the mention of the name), “it’s _so_ good to see you! What brings you from the Fire Nation?”

Anya looks around, expecting to see confusion on the faces of her fellow customers, but somehow, everyone else is minding their own business. God. _Imagine_.

Mr. Iroh gently takes the mask off of the- _guy_ , who protests but makes no real move to stop him. “Now, there’s your face! I’ve missed you, nephew.”

Is that- no, that can’t be. Surely, plenty of people have a burn scar on their face like that. There’s no way it can be the _Fire Lo-_

“Uncle,” the guy says, “I was _trying_ to be discreet. There’s a reason I was wearing the-”

“The Blue Spirit mask? Again?”

The Blue Spirit? Oh my God, _that_ ’s where Anya recognizes it! That guy mugged her boyfriend a few months ago! She kind of feels bad for forgetting, but whatever.

“Look, I know I threw the one away and stuff so I would stop separating the good acts I did from myself,” the guy explains, as if he’s saying something entirely casual and not mildly psychoanalyzing himself, “but there was another one in the palace, and there was a meeting today, and I’ve already had like, four meetings today, so I sort of climbed through the window and used the glider Aang made me that works with firebending, and -”

“Ah,” Iroh says, in his understanding voice. “Rough day.”

The guy- no, Anya can’t deny it, this is _Fire Lord Zuko_ \- slumps. “Yeah.”

“I’ll get you some Jasmine tea,” Mr. Iroh says, and Zuko follows him like a lost puppy, and Anya is left at her table, steam twirling around the blue tips of her hair. 

“What the fuck,” she says quietly to herself.

And then she realizes that class started five minutes ago, and she panics.

Okay, look. Zander isn’t bad at his job. He _isn’t_. He’s just… having a rough week, okay?

Like, he’s always liked plants, so when a position opened for a gardener, he took it. But like, he was in such a rush because he had just gotten a house of his own, and he needed to pay rent, and he didn’t want to ask his parents for help so soon because they would flip and make him come back home, so he basically applied for as many jobs as he could without paying much attention to which was which.

Turns out, the one he got accepted for was gardener for the _royal palace_. Which, like, fuck him, right?

Sure, the feral princess is gone now, and so is the total dick Ozai, and the new guy seems… alright? But working for the palace is like asking to be murdered over office politics, you know? But again, Zander needed rent money. And food money. Basically just money in general. So, turns out he’s a professional gardener now!

Yeah, he totally lied on his resume, too.

He’s had the job for a week and it’s kind of self explanatory, which is nice, but he’s always so worried he’s going to fuck everything up. And yeah, Fire Lord Zuko is only sixteen, which gives Zander a solid ten years on him, but Princess (is she still considered a princess?) Azula was only fourteen and the most talented firebender in the world, so who’s to say what the dude would do if some of his tomatoes went rotten?

This all is to say, when the motherfucker in the blue mask ran through Zander’s well-tended, fairly good garden and stomped on the beanstalks, Zander was… a little upset.

“Hey, dickhead!” Zander yells, and the guy freezes in his sprint, one leg still in the air. Slowly, he spins around. His mask is pretentious. “What do you think you’re doing! I’ve worked hard to keep those beans alive! And there you go, running through the garden like you’re allowed to do whatever you want. God.” Zander runs a hand through his close cropped hair. “Who do you think you are, the Fire Lord?”

Slowly, silently, the guy takes his mask off. And of course, since the universe hates Zander, he has the famous scar on his left eye. He pulls his hood off, and there he is, in all his glory: Fire Lord Zuko.

“Oh, I’m so fired,” Zander says.

Zuko waves. “Hey, uh,” he thinks for a moment, “Zander, right?”

“How do you know my name? I’ve worked here for like, six days.”

Zuko shrugs, and looks to the side awkwardly. “I try to know everyone in the staff’s name?”

Zander blinks. “Huh. Well, I guess you can forget my name now, since I’m going to be fired.”

“No!” Zuko says loudly, and then winces at himself. “I mean, no. Why would I fire you? It was my fault. I _did_ crush the beanstalks.”

“But,” Zander says, “I _totally_ called you a dickhead. Oh, God, I’m supposed to like, bow, aren’t I? I’m sorry, Fire Lord Zuko, I-”

“Don’t bow! Actually. I sort of hate it.”

“That’s fair, yeah.”

They stare at each other for a second, and Zander isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do in this situation. Finally, Zuko says, “Well. You’re forgiven for calling me- a dickhead. And for yelling. Not that you have to be forgiven, because you didn’t do anything wrong? Sorry I stepped in the garden and stuff.”

“Can you even apologize for stuff? Like, legally?” Zander asks.

Zuko looks incredibly awkward, and Zander almost feels bad for him. “Uh… I mean like, morally, I should be allowed to?” He shakes his head. “Look, I have to go before the guards see me sneaking back in, so. You never saw me?”

Zander shrugs. “Yeah, alright. Good luck, Fire Lord.” Zuko puts the mask back on and starts running again, heading around to the part of the palace with stained glass windows. Zander watches him go, stares at the dead beans, and sighs.

It doesn’t hit him that, hey, why was the Fire Lord sneaking in to his own palace in the first place, until way later.

Whatever. After everything, this might as well happen, right?

**Author's Note:**

> cut scene  
> zuko: hey so i have a question  
> official fire nation person: what's up fire lord  
> zuko: am i... legally allowed to apologize  
> official fire nation person: uhh i'm not su-  
> official fire nation person 2: no you're not  
> zuko: that's. that's so fucking stupid. who decided that  
> official fire nation person 2: your father did, fire lord zuko  
> zuko: ah. that fucking explains it


End file.
